Vincent Kompany calls on Premier League clubs to drop ticket prices

Recommended Posts

•Manchester City defender has just graduated with an MBA•‘Those who live for the club can’t always afford it’

Vincent Kompanyhas called on Premier League clubs to force down the price of match tickets and attract the “right people” back into football.

TheManchester City captainhas recently graduated with an MBA [Master of Business Administration] from Manchester Business School and, during his research on maximising revenues from home advantage, he concluded ticket prices should be reduced for business reasons.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live’s Wake Up To Money, Kompany said: “You get better home advantage depending on the atmosphere that you can create within your facilities, and that is linked to the people who enter your stadiums. ThePremier Leagueis generating two or three times the revenue of the other top five leagues in Europe, so at what point do you realise that your revenues are that big as a TV product, and the revenue from match-day tickets is only getting smaller?

“At what point do you decide we are actually now going to make sure if it is a TV product, it is the best product in the world? Meaning not just the best players, but the best atmosphere in the stadium; meaning the right people in the right place.”

Read more Kompany, who has been at City since 2008, in which time the club has been transformed into one of the world’s richest, added: “Those that live for the club, are probably more attached to the club than anybody else. But those are probably not always the guys who can afford it.

“We know the Premier League can still grow. The question is at what point do you reach breaking point where you squeezed so much out of your people at home?”

Kompany, 31, who is likely to be part of the Belgium squad that faces England in their World Cup group in Russia this summer, added: “If you assume the Premier League gets bigger and you gain markets in China, India, Africa, America, you could fill the grounds with tourists. You can do it, and make more money. They’d just come and spend £400 a ticket, it’s nothing for them because it is a once in a lifetime experience, like going to an NBA or NFL game. The question is if that affects your product, as the Premier League?”

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The stadiums are full, lowering the price on its own won't get the "right" people in, it will just transfer the saving to the current group of dullards who have first refusal.

If you want an atmosphere it needs to be more substantial in ground organisation. You've got to get everyone who wants to make an atmosphere in the same place, but that is a problem when you've got people who won't shift.

These days you've just got a small group of home fans standing up next to the away fans trying to give it large. Embarrassing people.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The game is completely gone from the types of people Kompany is talking about, particularly at the bigger clubs. The younger generation will have grown up without having that match going routine so they're probably not bothered.

Premier League clubs aren't going to make it easy for those types to get into the match when they've spent 30 years getting rid of them.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The stadiums are full, lowering the price on its own won't get the "right" people in, it will just transfer the saving to the current group of dullards who have first refusal.

If you want an atmosphere it needs to be more substantial in ground organisation. You've got to get everyone who wants to make an atmosphere in the same place, but that is a problem when you've got people who won't shift.

These days you've just got a small group of home fans standing up next to the away fans trying to give it large. Embarrassing people.

Only at clubs who built grounds too big for them in the first place. Football has returned to its historical 1950's post war peak and three quarters of Premier League stadiums are 96%+ full on average with half the teams at about 99% full.